Pegula: “If you’d told me I’d be in the US Open final, I’d have laughed”

If Jessica Pegula wins the US Open on Saturday against Aryna Sabalenka, she will become the second American in a row to win the title at Flushing Meadows after Coco Gauff last year, the first time this would have happened since… Serena Williams’ treble in 2012, 2013 and 2014. That was ten years ago.

The momentum is largely on her side: since the start of the American tour, Pegula has won the Masters 1000 in Toronto, lost the final in Cincinnati (to the same Sabalenka) and will now play in her first Grand Slam final in New York. 15 wins from her last 16 matches, the record is almost perfect.

In the semi-finals, she toppled Karolina Muchova in a match that had got very badly out of hand (she was trailing 6-1, 2-0 before coming through 1-6, 6-4, 6-2), surely caught up in the pressure of her first last four in a Major. She is now just one step away from what she has always believed she could achieve.

“It’s amazing. It’s a childhood dream. It’s what I wanted when I was a kid. It’s a lot of work, a lot of hard work put in. You couldn’t even imagine how much goes into it.

“It would mean the world to me obviously. I’m just happy to be in a final, but obviously I come here to want to win the title. You know, if you would have told me at the beginning of the year I’d be in the finals of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard, because that just was where my head was, was not thinking that I would be here.

So to be able to overcome all those challenges and say that I get a chance at the title Saturday is what we play for as players, let alone being able to do that in my home country here, in my home slam. It’s perfect, really.”

Toughest challenge awaits – in Sabalenka

In the final, Pegula will face the ultimate challenge of the moment, the best thing to happen at a Grand Slam on hard court in the last two years, making every single major final on the surface since the 2023 Australian Open, which she won. And the Belarusian has the upper hand: she beat her in straight sets three weeks ago in Cincinnati, and leads 5-2 in their meetings.

“She’s a really great hard court player, if not one of the best in the world, but I think I’m also a really good hard court player. Cincinnati, she served unbelievable, and I felt like I still had chances in that match. So hopefully she doesn’t serve that good Saturday. Maybe a little bit less would be nice!

“But I think I know that I can have a game that can possibly frustrate her. I feel like in the past I just, you know, have to be aggressive, I have to get her moving, serve smart, and try and put some pressure on her serve, play my game, which is kind of what I do already. I try to do those things: play within myself, pick my spots, you know, I want to say, like, aggressive, but, you know, not overdo it.

“Hopefully I’m able to execute that, and if there’s something in the match that maybe is working or not working, then I can figure those things out. But, you know, I’m just going to try and play my game Saturday really.”

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